


A Different Start

by Skyeec2



Series: Sefikura Week 2018 [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, cute idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 07:44:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13476882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyeec2/pseuds/Skyeec2
Summary: When Cloud's plans to leave are waylaid by outside circumstances, he's very lucky that his life doesn't turn out as boring as he dreaded it would.





	A Different Start

**Author's Note:**

> The Prompt for this one was Showing Up Unexpectedly

Cloud had planned to leave Nibleheim when he was fifteen, wanting to travel to Midgar to make a name for himself in Shinra’s SOLDIER’s program; like the heroes he’d spent the last ten years reading about. Unfortunately, those plans were put on hold because of a sudden, freak snow-storm that left the small town cut off from the rest of the world, struggling to survive.

He then made plans to leave after helping his Ma recover from the damage the storm caused to their home; mainly restock their supplies and fix the house so she didn’t have to do it all on her own, despite her insistence that he didn’t need to and that he should go while he could. But he never ran out of things that needed urgent attention and since the rest of the village had no lost love for them, he simply couldn’t leave.

He gave up hope of ever leaving for Midgar on his sixteenth birthday, sure that this was a sign from the gods that he was doomed to die on the frozen wastes of the Nibel mountains; perhaps burned alive by a dragon or torn apart by a pack of Nibel wolves if he was lucky. His Ma was just as disappointed as he was, having wanted a better life for him than Nibelheim would have ever given him; he was just another Strife that would never left the Nibel mountains.

He resigned himself to live out the rest of his life, hated by the people around him and living day-to-day as well as he could, never being more than another name in his family tree, unlike the hero he’d once dreamed himself becoming. He resigned himself to a boring life of anonymity, only able to read about the glamorous, interesting lives portrayed in the newspaper and what few books he could get his hands on.

He coveted each piece of literature he could get his hands on, reading each and every printed word in the hopes that he’d be able to imprint enough of an idea in his mind to give him something to dream about. It wasn’t any surprise that he ended up one of the best read people in Nibelheim, alongside the person who knew the most about life outside of their little town.

He read about Shinra’s war with Wutai, their massive SOLDIER desertion and Shinra’s attempts to keep face, committing the names and faces of key figures to memory. The most impressive of which, was Sephiroth, General and most powerful of Shinra’s SOLDIERs.

They had just received word of Wutai’s surrender in the face of Shinra’s continued victory when a handful of SOLDIERs arrived in Nibelheim, their transport having been downed in a sudden snow storm during the night. Cloud was expecting to continue with his day, there was still a bit of firewood that be needed to prepared for the upcoming winter, but then the General himself stopped in front of his house and watched him.

Cloud turned to him after splitting a few more logs, meeting the man’s green eyes with his own blue pair. He dropped his axe before crossing his arms over his chest, fixing the larger man with a sharp look as he asked, “is there something I can help you with?”

“They’re run out of space at the inn,” the General said, shifting his gaze away from Cloud and back towards the rest of the village. “I was informed that the Strife family might have a spare room for the night.”

“Of course you were,” Cloud sighed, running a hand through his hair. He picked up the pieces he had already finished before walking forward, aware of the way the SOLDIER edged away from him as he approached the covered area they kept the firewood in. He ignored the man’s behaviour, long used to being treated like someone that shouldn’t be approached, and instead set the wood down before turning towards the door. “Let me check with Ma first.”

He didn’t wait for a response before ducking into the house, finding his Ma watching them from the window. She turned away from the sight of the silver-haired man to fix him with furrowed brows, mouth shaping a silent question.

He shrugged, rolling his eyes, “someone’s volunteered us as hosts for the night.” A blonde brow rose over widened blue eyes, letting him know  _ exactly _ what his Ma thought about that statement. “Do we have the space for him.”

“There’s yer room,” she stated simply, turning her gaze back to the man outside of their home. “He won’t fit anywhere else.”

He nodded at her words, knowing them to be true. He didn’t have to see them side by side to know that the General was too tall to fit comfortably on the small couch they kept in the main room of the house. He turned away from her, back to the door to allow the SOLDIER into their home.

The General’s gaze was focused on the rest of the village when Cloud opened the door, body tense as his intent gaze remained on the cluster of buildings that made up the rest of Nibelheim. Green eyes focused on Cloud within a moment of the door opening, unblinking as he waited for Cloud to begin speaking.

“We’ve got a bed for you,” he said, stepping back into the house so the man could enter as well. “It’s shit, but it’ll do you for the night.” He turned towards his room, separated from the main area of the house by a thin, wooden door, opening it for the other’s inspection.

“Thank you,” the man said, walking into the room and closing the door softly behind him, separating himself from Cloud and his Ma.

He turned back to her, returning her shrug before stepping back outside, there was still a large number of logs that needed to be splitted before they could be used as firewood.

He’d been working for perhaps another hour when the General approached him, stepping out of the house quietly before turning towards him instead of continuing on to the village. Cloud glanced up at him, sweat soaking his shirt and causing it to cling uncomfortably to his frame, “something wrong?”

“I wanted to offer you my assistance,” the General stated, gazing somewhere over Cloud’s shoulder instead of his eyes. “As thanks for housing me for the night.”

While Cloud may have been a proud person, he wasn’t stupid and passing on the chance for some actual help with the rest of the manual labour would have been stupid. “If you wanna finish cutting those logs then I can start moving ‘em in,” he offered, handing the General his axe when the man nodded his agreement.

He got to work quickly, splitting the rest of the logs with quick, efficient movements as Cloud carried the wood into the house, setting them to the side of the fireplace for when they were needed. Ma watched him from the kitchen, preparing a plain meal of stew from a beast Cloud had butchered earlier than week.

“Already got him working for you, huh?” She asked, smile bright and mischievous as she glanced to where the SOLDIER was still working outside. “Good boy. I knew I raised you right.”

“You’re terrible,” he told her, walking back outside to finish his chore.

They finished far quicker than Cloud would have on his own, resulting in Cloud actually having a bit of free time before dinner; a rarity in his life. There wasn’t anything else that required his attention and he’d already finished the new, well fourth-hand but new to him, book he’d gotten, he was left without anything to focus his attention on.

He decided to question the General, indulging in his curiosity a bit. “How’d you get the short straw to bunk with some mountain hicks?” The question must have surprised the SOLDIER as he turned to stare at Cloud with wide eyes. “No offense to me, of course.”

“I volunteered,” the silver-haired man said, relaxing a bit as he moved passed his surprised shock. “My men deserved the beds more than I and giving them up was an easy decision on my part.”

“Well that’s nice,” Cloud said, genuinely surprised by the man’s reasonings. “A nicer reason than I was expecting.”

“What were you expecting?” The question was accompanied by furrowed brows and tinged with intrigue, without any of the scorn that might have been present from anyone else.

“That you lost a coin toss,” Cloud suggested, shrugging easily under the green eyes focused on him. “Or a bet. Something like that.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, wasn’t expecting it to be for a nice reason at all.” Cloud continued, rolling his shoulder and shifting his gaze away from the silver-haired man. “Nice to know that Shinra isn’t completely filled with bastards.”

The General was quiet for a few moments, most likely unsure of how to respond and searching for something to say. “I don’t know your name,” he eventually decided upon, sounding awkward, which wasn’t something Cloud ever expected to attach to Shinra greatest SOLDIER. “Not your first that is.”

“It’s Cloud,” he answered, not expecting the man to remember it after he left Nibelheim.

“Please call me Sephiroth,” the SOLDIER said, surprising Cloud once again.

“Alright, Sephiroth,” he nodded, not showing the surprise he felt at the offer. Sephiroth would be leaving tomorrow, but the memory of being allowed to call the strongest warrior in the world by his name would no doubt stay with Cloud for the rest of his life.

Sephiroth dined with them that night, making awkward small talk but ultimately letting Cloud and his Ma carry the conversation between themselves. He seemed to be more pleased to listen to them than to speak so they let him keep quiet, they turned to bed soon after; Sephiroth taking Cloud’s while he fought with the couch to find a semi-comfortable position.

He and the rest of the SOLDIERs were gone before mid-morning the next day, transport repaired and weather clear enough for them to make their way safely out of the region and back to Midgar.

He never expected to see Sephiroth again, had engraved every detail about his night in their home to his memories for that very reason, so for him to answer his door some three years later to the man was quite a bit of a shock. There were two other people behind him, a young man and woman who looked just as weary as Sephiroth did.

“It’s good to see you again, Cloud,” Sephiroth greeted softly, surprising Cloud even more because he’d remembered his name after so long. “I was hoping we could intrude upon you for a few nights.”

Cloud blinked at him slowly but stepped back to allow the three into his home, confusing his Ma, who was treating a kill in the backroom.

“Who’s there, Cloud?” She called, unable to come see due to her arms being buried within a wolf’s guts.

“General Sephiroth!” He called back to her, watching the three of them enter his house and finding somewhere to seat themselves. “He’s got friends with him too!”

There was a moment of silence, where Cloud imagined her shrugging before she called out. “Ok! We’re having dragon tonight!”

“You guys eat dragon?” The question came from the other man in the room, who had his arm wrapped around the young woman seated on the couch next to him. He was staring at Cloud with wide, violet eyes, stunned by his Ma’s casual mention of eating dragon meat.

“Yeah?” Cloud questioned, returning the other’s stare with a cocked head and arms crossed over his chest. “You eat what you can get in the mountains, dragon and wolf are what’s common ‘round here.”

The other man was stopped from saying anything else by the woman next to him placing a hand on his arm, turning to give Cloud a soft smile. “He didn’t mean to offend, Zack just talks without thinking sometimes.”

Cloud blinked slowly, shrugging one of his shoulders under the woman’s uncanny green eyes. “Just be careful saying shit like that around Ma, she’ll probably impale you.” He turned his attention to Sephiroth, ignoring the started expression that was now on ‘Zack’s’ face. “So, what brings y’all to Nibelheim?”

“We’ve had some issues with Shinra’s management,” Sephiroth said after exchanging looks with ‘Zack’, shifting against the wall. “We needed to leave.”

“And you decided to disappear here?” Cloud questioned, brow raising when Sephiroth merely nodded  in response. “Well, if you had to disappear anywhere.”

“We won’t be in your hair long,” Sephiroth insisted, unaware that neither Cloud or his Ma was going to throw them out. “We’ll help around to earn out keep as well.”

“Of course you will!” Ma said, striding into the room, completely uncaring that her arms were stained in blood up to the elbow. “Everybody helps in a Nibel house, they won’t last otherwise!” She looked over the three, humming softly before coming to a decision. “You two can share Cloud’s room,” she said, pointing to ‘Zack’ and the young woman on the couch. “You two are gonna have to make due with the floor,” she gestured to Cloud and Sephiroth as she spoke.

She swept back out of the room once she had finished speaking, leaving the others in the room stunned.

“You heard her,” Cloud said, gesturing towards the door of his room. “You two’ll bunk in there. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta try to fix up the roof before dark.” He left the house through the front door, giving them the room and space to talk about whatever they needed to as he moved to the supplies he had gathered earlier in the day for the job.

Sephiroth joined him a few minutes later, staring up at him with what might have been concern as Cloud stood on their old ladder. 

“Can I help?” He asked, staring up at Cloud closely, looking out of place in his more casual clothes. Cloud turned to look down at him, raising a brow at the man, Sephiroth continued to speak, expanding on his request. “You’ve been kind, allowing us to stay with you, the least I can do is help you with this.”

“You know how to fix a roof?” Cloud asked, cocking his head at the other.

There was a moment where Sephiroth dropped his gaze, ducking his face away from Cloud’s gaze. “No,”

“That’s alright,” Cloud responded, drawing the other’s attention back to him, or at least he hoped so, it was hard to tell with all the hair. “Just hand me the things as I ask for them and keep a hold of the ladder, that’ll help.”

Sephiroth nodded, hair sliding back from his face as he lifted his head back towards Cloud. He reached out to grasp the ladder, holding it tightly in place to ensure that Cloud didn’t fall, handing things to Cloud when he asked for them and asking him about his life here in a soft voice.

The three were gone within the week, leaving Cloud lonelier than he’d ever felt. It was hard, to feel like he was missing out of things like friendship when everyone his age wanted nothing to do with him, but he was dealing with it now and there was nothing he could do to combat the feelings, just continue on with his day-to-day life.

Another year passed before Sephiroth showed up at his house again, knocking at his door and watching him hesitantly as he answered the door.

“Hello,” Sephiroth greeted softly, meeting his gaze slowly. He kept his eyes on Cloud’s as he spoke, swallowing heavily before continuing, “it’s good to see you Cloud.”

“Good to see you too,” he said, staring at Sephiroth in confusion. He really couldn’t think of a reason why the man was there, alone, in front of his house. But he was, and taking to him. “What brings you to Nibelheim?”

“I wanted to ask you,” the taller man started, dropping his gaze from Cloud’s as he paused before lifting them determinedly back to Cloud. “If you wanted to join me for dinner.”

Cloud blinked at the request, shocked that they had come from the man in front of him. “Ok,” he answered, his acceptance causing Sephiroth’s shoulders to relax and a soft breath to fall from the man’s mouth. He didn’t understand why Sephiroth would have been as nervous as he had been, but he had been and now Cloud had a date with one of the most powerful men in the world.

Seemed his life was going to be more interesting than he’d originally thought.


End file.
